‘Selfie Santa’ a hit with shoppers at SF’s...

1of14Wesley Gong has a photo taken with Santa William Hackett at Westfield San Francisco Centre.Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

2of14William Hackett greets Emily Ek at the Westfield San Francisco Centre. The mall encourages shoppers to use their own phones or cameras to take photos with "Selfie Santa." Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

3of14Santa William Hackett has a photo taken with Ranga Muhandiramge, his wife Rebecca and 6-month-old Ada at Westfield San Francisco Centre.Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

4of14As he strolls through Westfield San Francisco Centre, Santa William Hackett has Christmas props available for shoppers who want to use them when taking their own photos with him.Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

5of14Ranga Muhandiramge (left) holds 6-month-old Ada while his wife Rebecca shows a photo taken with Santa at the Westfield San Francisco Centre.Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

6of14>>AAA is forecasting that more than one-third of Americans will travel
this holiday season. Click through to see what you need to know....Photo: Tom Tingle / Associated Press

7of14More than 102 million people will pack up their vehicles for a holiday road trip.Photo: Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

8of14The worst day to travel in the New York City area will be Thursday, especially between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m.Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

9of14On Christmas Eve, an expanded Saturday schedule will be in effect. On Christmas Day, it will operate a special holiday schedule with hourly service on most lines.Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

10of14For the week between Christmas and New Year’s, will have reduced AM
peak service and additional inbound service in the late morning. PM peak
service will operate normally.Photo: Matthew Brown, Hearst Connecticut Media

11of14The National Weather Service is forecasting a 40 percent chance of rain after noon on Thursday. Up to three-quarters of an inch of rain is expected to fall Thursday night.Photo: Ned Gerard, Hearst Connecticut Media

13of14Airports will be especially crowded because the 6.7 million people
who will travel by air this year is the highest level in 15 years and is
4.2 percent more than last year.Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK, AFP/Getty Images

14of14This holiday season, Saturday, Dec. 22, Sunday, Dec. 23 and Wednesday,
Dec, 26 will be the busiest days in the skies and at the airports.Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images

Elizabeth Ramos Young didn’t have to stand in line so her daughter could see Santa this year — they got a free Christmas Eve photo with him under the Westfield San Francisco Centre’s inverted crystal tree. And they loved it.

Westfield eschewed the traditional Santa experience this year for a more social media-friendly version, sending Saint Nick out and about on a few select days this month and encouraging holiday shoppers like Ramos Young to come take pictures on their own phones or cameras.

If the steady stream of families and young children who rushed up to Santa at the mall on Monday are any indication, “Selfie Santa” was a hit.

“It’s much nicer, cheaper, because we don’t have to wait in like a two-hour line — that’s too much hassle for us,” said Ramos Young, a Minnesota resident who went to the mall while visiting family in the Bay Area.

Numbers suggest many other families felt similarly. William Hackett, who portrayed Santa at Westfield on Monday through the Entire Productions firm, said on a previous weekend this month he took more than 500 photos in just four hours.

“It is adapting to the times,” he said in between selfies by the inverted tree under the mall’s historic dome on Monday. “It’s a good use of technology. It brings people in. It’s inclusive. There’s no cost associated with it.”

The selfie-focused experience also gave the mall Santa more flexibility. Hackett said he tried to target gathering places such as the rotunda under the dome, but sometimes individual retailers would call and ask Santa to stop by, too.

“When you’re just seated, there’s kind of a linear process,” Hackett said. “People love being able to put their images up on social media right away ... it kind of spreads the spirit of the holidays.”

Patricia Valdes’ 3-year- old daughter, Alejandra, was another one of the eager children who took advantage of “Selfie Santa.” Valdes, who lives in Barcelona, Spain, said she prefers the new experience to the traditional version.

“This is much better,” she said. “Because you are with little kids, so if you don’t have to wait in line, it makes them more relaxed about it. And then it’s more relaxed for you also.”

J.D. Morris is a business reporter covering energy, including PG&E, Tesla and California’s clean power initiatives.

Before joining The Chronicle, he was the Sonoma County government reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among the journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.

He was previously the casino industry reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Raised in Monterey County and Bakersfield, he has a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley.